Prof. Boerner's Explorations

    
Commentary:

After the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, the Christian faith under the control of the Catholic Church and its Popes. Not until the beginning of the 16th century did someone (Martin Luther) successfully challenge the Catholic Church’s teaching. But as a German Theologian and Augustinian Monk, Luther emerge to question the Church’s policy on Indulgences, among other things. This resulted in many of the churches in northern Europe, except for Poland, leaving the Catholic Church and adopted a Protestant faith based upon the direct reading of the bible and individual worship and responsibility.

To express his objections, this monk, Martin Luther, sent a list of 95 theses (points of question) to his Archbishop. He nailed a copy to the church door in Wittenberg as was the custom by the faculty at the seminary where he taught. This proved to be the start of a much larger movement — The Protestant Reformation.

As an immediate consequence of his action, he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and faced a trial for his offenses before the Diet of Worms. He was found guilty which resulted in “…declaring Luther an outlaw, banning his literature, and requiring his arrest…” The cascaded into the Reformation. Luther did much to democratize the Christian Church produce the dichotomy of Catholic vs. Protestant that we have today.

So, let’s start our exploration in the opening battle of the Protestant Reformation…  GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 3083 Words ]
    

    
Commentary:

Halloween is closely associated with the Catholic Church’s celebration of All Saints’ Day. It was evolved from a variety of pagan celebrations, especially as practiced by the Celts in Ireland. In the new world, it morphed into the celebration of the Day of the Dead. This latter celebration is related to All Souls Day, the first day in November; it celebrates those who have died and are living in a undefined state in the after life. In the United States, this religious observance has become the secular celebration of Halloween, which reflects a commercialization of this holiday.

More than other aspects of Halloween, All Saints’ Day is celebrated differently by the Western churches and the Eastern Orthodox churches. By and large, the eastern observations have maintained a closer observance to the religious traditions than in the western cultures. Read more about these differences in body of this posting.

So, let’s get into an exploration of All Saints’ Day. As you read the following material, think about both the religious and secular observances to draw you own conclusions about these celebrations… GLB

These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved

[ 1918 Words ]